Héctor Rial

Héctor Rial is one of the best players in the history of Real Madrid and Argentina. Very gifted technically, he was also a player of the big maths where he was often decisive.

Trophies

152

Goals

365

Games

1947/48 San Lorenzo (ARG) 40 games, 20 goals

1949/51 Independiente Santa Fe (COL) 54 games, 26 goals

1952/54 Nacional (URU) 51 games, 20 goals

1954/61 Real Madrid (SPA) 169 games, 83 goals

(Spanish Championship: 114 games, 60 goals)

(Spanish Cup: 28 games, 7 goals)

(European Champion Clubs' Cup: 23 games, 14 goals)

(Latin Cup: 4 games, 2 goals)

1961 Unión Española (CHI) (Loan) 15 games, 1 goal

1961/62 Espanyol Barcelona (SPA) 9 games, 1 goal

(Spanish Championship: 6 matches, 1 goal)

(Spanish Cup: 2 matches)

(European Fairs Cup: 1 match)

1962/63 Olympique de Marseille (FRA) 22 matches

(French Championship: 16 matches)

(French Cup: 5 matches)

(European Fairs Cup: 1 match)

With the National Team :

Spain: 5 caps, 1 goal

(Friendly matches: 5 caps)

1st cap: March 17, 1955 against France (1-2)

Last cap: April 13, 1958 against Portugal (1-0)

José Héctor Rial Laguía

Born October 14, 1928 in Pergamino (ARG)

Died February 24, 1991 in Madrid (ESP)

Spanish/Argentine, left winger, attacking midfielder, second striker, 1m76

Nicknames: El Tucuta, El Nene, El Pibe

A dream start to a career in South America

Héctor Rial was born on October 14, 1928 in Pergamino, Argentina. Son of Spanish immigrants, he lived the first years of his life in Buenos Aries and began his football career in San Lorenzo at 18 years old. He played there for 3 years, bringing his total number of matches to 40 for 20 goals.

In July 1949, he left his first club to join Independiente Santa Fe, a Colombian club. The reason? Colombia paid its players more than Argentine clubs. At the time, the Colombian league was also separate from FIFA. Héctor scored 26 goals in 54 matches for the Colombian club in 2 and a half seasons and established himself as one of the best players on the continent.

Following his good performances, he was recruited in 1952 by Nacional Montevideo, a legendary club on the South American continent. With this club, he won his first trophy, the Uruguayan championship in 1952 before finishing runner-up twice in 1953 and 1954.

A brilliant first season at Real Madrid

In 1954, it was the prestigious club Real Madrid that wanted to secure his services, the Argentinian player then came into conflict with its management in Uruguay. Héctor would go so far as to declare that he would stop playing football if the transfer to Real Madrid did not take place. He therefore signed for Real Madrid, which was in the process of creating a crazy team made up of the greatest talents on the planet. Héctor Rial would be one of its jewels, and the Argentinian arrived in Spain at the age of 25.

His first season at the White House was a great success. A season with 20 goals in 36 games all seasons combined. He who was then a player playing as a left winger became an incredible attacking midfielder. In his first game, he scored against Valencia during a 2-1 defeat of Real Madrid. The adaptation to the Spanish championship was immediate, in January 1955, he scored a hat-trick against Sevilla FC. In the last 10 games of the championship, he scored in 8 of them.

That same season, he scored both goals in the Latin Cup final and established himself as one of the most decisive players in crucial moments. In March 1955, thanks to his Spanish parents, he was called to play with the Spanish team, a short career in selection but still notable for the Argentinian-Spaniard.

Between injuries and strokes of genius

At Real, he went from seasons of injuries to substitutes and world-class players. But one thing is for sure, in the big moments, few players are more decisive than Héctor Rial. For the first edition of the Champions League, in 1955/56, Héctor Rial scored 5 goals, including 2 in the final! He thus concluded one of his best seasons with 23 goals in 38 matches.

The following season was undermined by injuries and Rial only played 14 matches for 3 goals. But he scored 2 goals in the semi-final of the Champions League against Manchester United. The 1957/58 season was better, the player returned to a sparkling level and finished the season with 22 goals in 39 matches, still as an attacking midfielder. With Di Stéfano, he formed a sublime duo. Rial scored in a Champions League final against AC Milan. Scoring a total of 4 goals in 6 games in the competition.

During the 1958/59 season, Rial finished his last great season with Real Madrid, 13 goals in 31 games. Including one in the semi-final of the Champions League. His last two seasons at Real Madrid were anecdotal, due to numerous injuries. Over these last two seasons at Real Madrid, the player only played 11 games for 2 goals.

A player ruined by injuries

In the last months of the 1960/61 season, he was loaned to Union Espanola, based in Santiago de Chile, where he regained good physical condition but was no longer decisive, only 1 goal in 15 games. At the end of the season, he was therefore not extended by Real Madrid and it was the end of a great adventure where the Argentinian played 169 games for 83 goals as an attacking midfielder, mind-blowing statistics.

He therefore joined Espanyol Barcelona but did not make his mark there and decided to finish his career in France, with Olympique de Marseille, which had just been promoted to the French first division. Unfortunately, the club was directly relegated. With this final, disappointing season, he ended his career at the age of 34, ruined by injuries.

Héctor Rial will be remembered by Real Madrid fans for his great vision of the game, his precise passes, his great technique, with an ease in dribbling one-on-one, his quality of ball control, his great power on the ball and a good head game despite his 1.76m.